The evening world. Newspaper, September 26, 1902, Page 2

a rt ‘They edt he in ads seats, while a court officer stepped ‘served the warrants on them and took them before the bar, 00 ball. fe Mist Biggar is stopping, to place her under arrest, org er uot. comme 18 AT ONCE COMMENCED. iminal charge was immediately taken up, McNulty, who was for yea: late millionaire’s private secretary, was called to the stand. 1898, about her relations with Mr. Bennett. Jected on the ground that the woman was not yet under arrest. fasued. 2°) admit it.” “Yes, I spoke to hor several times, once in particular. ~ BGth or 27th of March, 1901, Mr. Bennett was 11] at the Victoria Hotel, ‘ Pittsburg. Mise Biggar had been to New York. She heard of his illness and hurried to Pittsburg 1 met her in the hotel parlor, She said, “Unless Eile “Mr. Bennett has made o will I can get nothing, because I have no relation- . ship. Nith hin,” WORRIED BECAUSE OF NO WILL. / “She was very much worried, Sho kept saying that she had no rela- bas _tonghip with him. 1 told her that I did not know of the existence of @ pind with, but that it was Mr. Bennett's intention to fix everything all right. | She repeated that she could have no claim on his estate. nha she said: “If I am rot in his will 1 do not know what will become of me.’ Continuing, Mr. McNulty se{d that he had first met Miss Piggar at the Marlborough Hotel, New York City. _, “Was Mr. Bennett there?” asked Lawyer George Frankensiein, counsel +, tor Justice of the Peace Stanton. ; “He was,” "And they were living trgether?” “No,” said the witness. “Mr. Bonnett was staying with a friend.” At this point counse) for the prosecution objected and Lawyer Frank- enstein said that he wished io show that to the eyes of the world, at least, Laura Biggar was Mr. Bennett's wife. The Court refused to admit the testimony. a “The woman made the claim Inst week that there was a ceremonial ge. therefore nothing that cannot support that claim will be ad- aid the Court. * Lawyer Alfred Walterson was then called. He said that he had first geen Laura Biggar at the Frechold race t and later he had gone to the _ Bayonne sanitarium. where he hed net Dr, Hendricks. Mr. MeNulty jn- “troduced him. Dr Henfricks sald: “I didn't know you were going to bring a mob here.” Then Mr. McNulty replied that he had only lawyers with him who were in the cage, and Dr. Hendricks said that we couid not ‘see Mies Bizgar and she would not see us. m “he Doctor was very much excited. He said ‘Miss Biggar is entitled _ to the whole damned estate. She worked for Bennett as no other woman would work for a man. | haven't made up my mind yet what our course fe! Will be. We shall eithe: put in a big claim for services or claim the whole estate op the ground that Miss Biggar is Mr. Bennett's common law wife.’ _ SAID MISS BIGGAR MADE THREATS. Agwyer John F. Hawkins, who drew the will, was called. He said that “when Laura Biggar signed the petition in making application for the ad- ‘ministration of the estate, she said that if ahe was not properly looked after ~ahe would claim the whole estat. as Mr. Bennett's common law wife. She said that when she met Mr. Bennett she had been making $200 or $254 “® Week on tho stage. She told me that a Mrs, Shattuck, with whom she had lived, had asked why she had not married Mr, Bennett. She replied that rtoas: the Mill Mr. Bennett’s monument was erected and that there was no ‘Foum for her there. “She never denied the reiationship that existed between her and Mr. ‘One day young Mr, Ferguson was in my office. Miss Biggar was we were talking about the provisions of the will. He sald to Biggar, you will have a harder time to prove your claim than else. You will have more to fight for, because Of the relationship existed between you and Mr. Bennett. I don’t know how tt will be in a Wew York or New Jersey court, but by the law in Pennsylvania you would ave a hard time fighting for the money.’ ‘To this Miss Biggar made no Davia &. Crater certified to the petition for the probate of the will. Lawyer Stephen Arrowsmith went on the stand and certified to the authenticity of the papers in the case. not only show that there was a conspiracy, but we will show that Laura _ Biggar was not the mother of the child. We have absolute proot”of that. “We can already show enough to warrant Your Honor in holding these “ peovle.” Lawyer Arrowsmith then took up the plea for the prosecution. “We “ean show,” he said, “that the woman Mrs. Anna Webber, who was sup- posed to have witnessed the wedding, never lived at No, 117 Monroe etreet, but at that number on the flour below, where ex-Justice of the Peace Stan- ton had his office, there did at one time live Elizabeth Webber. She was never known as Anna Webber. BOGUS MARRIAGE CERTIFICATE, “We can show that Stanton went to the Health Board and tranagribed . from the records the memvrandum of the death of Anna Webber. We can Ea tow also that this certificate of 1898 Is bogus. eat “We have tho certificate for the marriage and we will show that tho . peason Stanton made a blot in one corner of it, just where the year's date fs printed, was to hide that it wae 19 and not 18 as It would be had ft been i bripted 80 as to record a marriage of 1898. b “Can there be any doubt as to the conspiracy in this case? + was there .a clearer case for the Grand Jury.” Lawyer Samuel Patterson, appearing for the executor of the will, sald: *©“The motive for this conspiracy is clear. These peovle wanted to divert " the Bennett property into cMannels other than the testator of the will had \, dasigned. That is why this marriage certificate is produced. Stanton _ wore on the stand that he had performed the marriage ceremony. »,-*We.can prove that there never was a marriage ceremony and that “this plot Wes nol thought of until the Biggar woman went to Dr. Hen- 8 Grieks’s sanicarium. Ali aong she had no idea of trying to prove that there i este ceremonial marriage, She told every one in the case that she would > either put in a big claim for services, or claim the whole estate as M. mnett’s common-law wife, ID SHE HAD NO CLAIM. “She has admitted again and again that she had no claim to the estate. told Mr. McNulty of the relations that existed between them. “Look at the petitions they have filed with the court. First this woman >] Laura Biggar, then in comes Dr. Hendricks applying for Laura if and then in comes Laura Biggar again as Laura Biggar Bennett, ‘Bien sudiieniy we have the abandonment of the case.” rit was decided to adjourn and later call Joseph Tucker, clerk in the h Board, where Stanton went to copy the record of Anna Webber's for Lawyer C. C. Black. After court had adjourned the prisoners m in charge of officers. Frankenstein refused to let ex-Justice Stanton make a state- is all a biuf,” he said, “What we shall do I do not know. I Bennett to-night. Where she is I don't know." dawyer appeared worried. aS. MARRIAGE PAPER “OBTAINED BY STANTON. No, never Ncw . "sodge Heisley at once @ismissed the suit and then placed the prisoners aty was hurried to the Bergen Point Sanitarium, at Bayonne, N, ‘Following the sensational withdrawal from the case of Laura Biggar the fesuance of warrants for the alleged conspirators, the trial of the He was asked if he had ever talked with the Biggar woman after Jan. 2, Counsel for the defense ob- “The charge has been made,” the presiding judge sald, “and the warrant) It was about the | A motion was then made to hold the accused for the Grand Jury. This opposed by the defense. Lawyer J. Scott Fergurson tuen tn a dramatic way said: “We wilt}? THE WORLD: FRIDAY EVENING, SErrempun vw, 12. ACTRESS LAURA BIGGAR AS “THE WIDOW” IN HOYT’S PLAY “A TRIP TO CHINATOWN" standing in front of the City Hell when he came up to me and sald he was in a good deal of trouble and that I could help him out, ““T want you,’ he said to me, ‘to go on the witness-stand and swear that a woman named Anna Weber, who was a witness to a marringe I performed of Henry M. Bennett and Laura Biggar, is dead.’ “1 said I would help him all I could, but that if I went on the witness- stand I would have to tel! the truth. Stanton seemed disappointed and walked away. ila came to see me again in my office last Saturday morning. Lawyer Alexander Young was with him. Young told me that Stanton was in trouble, ane he wanted me to do all I could for him. Then Stanton asked me if I had a marriage return blank with an 1800 date on—that is, a blank with the date line having the nunibers 18 and a blank space following for the number of the year to be written in. I told him I thought I had. TOOK AWAY THE PAPER. “I hunted around, found one and gave it to him. Ho took it away with him. As he was leaving I told him to be careful, because I didn’t intend to get Into any trouble over this matter. “He came back in about ten minutes with the blank I had given fim and handed it to me. It had been filled out to show that Bennett and Misa Biggar bad been married in 1898." Here the witness was shown the certifleate produced in court to prove the marriage of Bennett and Miss Biggar. He identified it as the one Stanton filled out in Hoboken last Saturday. “Stanton,” the witness went on, “then asked me to enter the certificate in the regwiar book of records, pointing out a*blank spece in which it could have been entered. He said tuat I could enter it and complete the record and then say I had found the ertificate in a desk when I took charge of the office the first of this y He said he would give me $1, the reguiar fee, and also produce a paper to protect me in case anything came out of it.” | At this point a paper was produced and shown the witness, He identi | fed it as the agreement Stanton had given him in Hoboken, It read as, follows: HONOIKEN, Sept. Tafirm that 1 gave the marriage certifiente recording the marringe Lanra Binear and that 1 tient noticed It ren! SAMUEL STANTON, of Houry M. Hennett corded In 1898, (Slgned) Tucker testified that after signing and handing over the paper Stanton | and Mr, Young left the office. In about ten minutes Mr, Young returned | and asked for the papers, snying that Stanton was waiting in Ry 's Hotel, | Tucker gave the certificate and the agreement to Mr. Young. When Tucker told how Young had recovered the incriminating docu- taents in the case the defense appeared very much agitated. Lawyer Young! 1s Corporation Counsel for Hoboken, He set a trap, {t Was apparent, tor ex- | Justice Stanton. He got Stanton to xo to Tucker and then told Tucker that Stanton was waiting in Busch's Hotel and got him to give up the) papers, “That afternoon,” came back (o my office. REALIZED HE WAS TRAPPED : “He sald: ‘Joe, 1 have been trapped. I fell into an awful trap; should not have given those papers up to Young. “1 knew that it was serious then, and I went to the President of the Health Board and told everything.” On cross-examination Lawyer Frankenstein tried to shako Tucker's testimony. He wanted him to admit that when Lawyer Young asked for continued ‘Tucker (meaning Saturday) “Stanton you the bogus marriage certificate and the document which Stanton signed for Tucker's protection he had said: “Joe, give me those papers, Stanton is waiting for me at Busch’s Hotel." “No,” witness said repeatedly, “he only eald, ‘Give me those papers.’ At the conclusion of Tucker's testimony Judge Heisley sald: “There is every evidence of fraud in this cosc. On the evidence I can do nothing yut hold all tho defendants in $5,000 hall each, “This is a very serious crime. It seems strange to me, if it Is true that tiiis woman was enciente at the time she tried to probate the will under the terms of which she could get only about $100,000. She must have known and her counsel must have known what effect the birth of a ehi.d would have had. It would have invalidated the will and would haye as- sured her of probably $2,000,000. Why should she insist then in probating the will? “Yhore is every indication that the marriage certificate is fraudulent, It seems strange that Dr, Hendricks, as Miss Biggar's counsel, should have made statements tending to establish a common-law marriage if he knew that there was © certificate of marriage in existence and that Miss Higgir Was about to become a mother. Me must certainly have known that the birth of the child and the production of the certificate would have broken the will BAIL NOT EXCESSIVE, HE SAYS. “Tucker came bere and gave his testimony voluntarily. There is no renson to believe that he is not telling the truth and his testimony appears fo establisn without doubt the full extent of he conspiracy. “Had his conspiracy proved successful, many innocent persons weuld havo been defrauded out of large sums of money, rightly due them from the Rennett cstato. With this in view 1 do not think the $5,000 bail in each case excessive,” As soon as the announcement was made that the accused would be held there counsel immediately telephoned to Jersey City for ba{l in the hope that {t would arrive this afternoon, Asked if the woman would surrender, Lawyer Frankenstein said: “1 HOW BENNETT'S NEPHEW EXPOSED THE CONSPIRACY Peter McNulty, of Pittsburg, Pa., the favorite nephew of old Bennett and next to Miss Biggar the largest beneficiary under his will, was the one gar at thé same time wrote a note directing that the baby boy's body te tmterred in tho same grave in the Prospect Cemetery, Asbury Park, where. in Mes all that was mortal of the late millionaire,’ She also directed that the plate on the little coffin be inscribed: BERRY M. BENNETT, Die Aug. 13, Ag ed Fifteen Daye. In writing these instructions the claimant signed .her name for-the first time “Mre. Laura Biggar Bennett.” BURIAL, IN FAMILY PLOT OPPOSED. John F. Hawkins, an Asbury Park lawyer, who drew Mr, Bennett's will and had been named as executor, consulted with Mr. McNulty and other heirs, and it was decided to refuse the child burial beside Mr, Bennett, -as that might be tantamount to admitting its birth and parentage. Notice was gerved on Misa Biggar that the Bennett heirs were not pre- pared to recognige her marriage to Mr, Bennett or the fact that a child ma been born, Meanwhile, though the Bennett heirs had agreed to the probate ortne will, In which Miss Biggar was a beneficiary to the extent of 60 per cent. of Bennett's 31,250,000 fortune, she immediately filed suit for the annulment of the will and the enforcement of her claims as widow and mother, This staggered the other heirs, and the investigation was vigorously taken up, which ended in to-day’s sensational court climax. HER CAREER ON THE STAGE. It was more than five years ago that fate merged the Ife lines-ofLaura @ Bigger and Henry M. Bennett. The woman in her youth was a rare beauty, a blonde, of medium height, and charmingly moulded form. William A. Tirady discavered her in the West, and under his auspices she made her stage debut some twelve years ago, pl@ying the leading woman's role in “After Dark,” while Brady himself appeared as Old Tom. Laura Biggar was married to a member of the company named Richardson, but their ro- mance was short lived. Later she married Burt Haverly. Her next and most scnsational role was when she appeared in the dis- robing scene in “The Clemenceau Case,” and for a brief season became the diversion of the gayer portion of New York theatre-goers. Laura Biggar was possessec. of some talent and versatility, as well as beauty, and she had attained a recognized position In a certain sphere of drama when she made her final stage appearance as the widow in Hoyt's “A Trip to Chinatown.” SHE FIRST MEETS BENNETT. At the Duquesne Theatre, in Pittsburg, the actress first met the aged Pittsburg millionaire, for whose fortune she is now battling. Mr. Bennett was fascinated by her manifojd graces, and paid her such assiduous atten- tion that he aroused the jealousy and finally the animosity of her husband. Burt Haverly sued the old man for alienation of his wife's affections. There was a settlement, which, according to rumor, involyed the payment of $10,000 to Haverly, and which freed him from Laura Biggar by divorce. It is a curious coincidence that only a few days before the actress followed Mr. Bennett's bedy to its tomb, in Asbury Park, Haverly consoled himselj who exposed the conspiracy. He had been Miss Diggar's stanchest frien’ after his uncle's death. Other heirs, jealous of her major portion, insisted on a contest. He efded with her, asserting she had given up her Ife to ¢omfort and cherish the sick man, and deserved the greater part of his estate. His pleading won and the heirs abandoned the contest. Then Miss Biggar sprung on the heirs the alleged fact of her secret marriage to Bennett and the birth of a posthumous child. She wanted to have the child buried beside Mr. Bennett at Asbury Park, but McNulty prevented It. When she brought her suit to annul the will and establish her claim to the entire estate McNulty went after her, He brought Chief of De- tectives Robert O'Meara, of Pittsburg, into the case, and under him worked an army of private detectives WORK OF UNMASKING BEGUN. Every Mayor and Juaticc of the Peace in New Jersey was visited and asked if he had been approached with a view to assisting In establishing the fact of a fictitious wedding, On Friday last ex-Justice of the Peace Samuel Stanton, of Hoboken, testified to the marriage in his office in Hoboken between 11 o'clock and midnight of Jan. 2, 1808, between old Bennett and Laura Biggar. Stanton identified Bennett from a photograph and Miss Biggar, who was in court, raised her veil and was promptly Identified. Stanton produce! the marriage certificat which, to the opposing coun- sel, bore plain evidence of having been tampered with. Particular stress was laid upon certain scratches and indications of erasure with a sharp instrument at the point where the year 1898" appears in large numerals, WAS THIi CARD FICTITIOUS. ‘The contention cf opposing lawyers on this point is interesting. ‘They maintain that the card certificate was one not actually in existence in the year 1808, but that It is one of a blank form issue of the year 1900 or later. Their cross-examination was directed toward showing that the printed numerals as they stood originally were “10—," with a blank space left for the insertion of the last numerals, and that there had been a bunsine | erasure of the numeral "9" ‘and a substitution with a pen of the Heid “898. Justice Stanton, when pressed to account for the scratches, said he did not recollect how they occurred, but that, as ke is a somewhat ¢arcless pen- man, he supposed he had splashed a blot of ink upon the certificate in fill- ing it out and had then tried to erase the blemish. DOCTORS TESTIVY TO THE BIRTH. Other witnesses last Friday were Dr. Hendricks, who appeared in his imedienl jer than his legal capeeity, and Dr. Jobn T. Connolly, consult- ing physician of the Hoboken sanitarium. Beth testified to the birth, on July 30, in Dr. Hendricks’s Bayoune san{tarium, of Laura Biggar’s baby. Dr. Connolly swore that he signed both the birth and death certificates of | the child, which had died of manition on Aug. 13, after a vigorous but vain effort to prolong life. Laura Biggar had been much prostrated by the death of the Infant. Until this piece of news emerged from the privacy of the sanitarlum of Laura Biggar’s physician and counge} she had made no public preten- sions to wifehood. The news of the birth was not even generally known until the child's death certificate was filed, wherein the parents’ names were entered as Henry M. Bennett and Laura Biggar Bennett. Laura Big- for his former domestic woes by wedding Mme. Dowling, a theatrical cos- tumer of this city. After her divorce from Haverly, Laura Biggar retired from the stage and “ias never returned to her old Thespian life. As the companion, and latterly the nurse of the aged millionaire, she attended his every want, living with him during the winter in one of his city homes, either in New York or Pittsburg, and in the summer on his charming ostate known aa the Windsor Stock Farm, at Farmingdale, N. J. tract of 500 acres, whereon Mr. Bennett delighted to gratify bis hobbv for breeding and developing blooded trotters. TRUE TO HER TO THE END. Within easy sight from his room he had constructed a half-mile track. | There he loved to see his sleek favorites speeded, even when increasing years and illness had made him a bedridden invalid. Some months before his death, in April, an yscess on one leg developed gangrene, which finally necessitated an amputation. From that time he became helpless, and he leaned more than ever upon the sustaining companionship of Laura ‘Biggar. To the last he loved his farm and his blooded pets. their, yachts and thefr automobiles,” he used to say. Mr, Bennett was born in Vermont in 1831, He began business life as a boy.in a country store at $50. year, The welling tide that swept westward to California in the early fifties carried him on its crest. There he made some money, with which he bought the old Lee & Bennett Circus, but dur- ing the first years of the civil war he abandoned the life of a showman to open a hotel at Broadway and Twelfth street, in this city, and another in Pitteburg. These ventures prospered and he afterward became interesiea in many theatrical enterprises and invested heavily in the stock of thy Pittsburg Consolidated Gas Company, of which he was the President until 1£98, when it was merged with other companies, QUARRELS END IN A MARRIAGE, Magistrate Willingly Lends His Aid in Settling the Dis- putes of a Couple Long in Love. “Let others have. “This is my hobby.” talked the boat started. Then he threat! ened to shoot The Magistrate was about to ask Boone what he kad to say when the latter asked: “What do you think about our get- ting married? We have lived together for a long while,” Magistrate Flammer accepted this Proposition and performed the ceremony. ————— ROBBERS TIE UP POLICEMEN. Daring Work of a Youngstown, 0, YOUNGSTOWN, O., Sept. 2.—A band of burglars early to-day blew open the safe of the Beechwood Improvement Company, of South Sharon, Pa., and got away with $400 in cash. There were four men In the band. They were seen by Policeman Newton Stamp, whom they overpowered, bound and gagged. George Haynes, another policeman, was knocked down and tled oa poet, Policeman Gayler kept a running fight with the men for some distance, but they finally escaped. ~ Andrew Boone and Clara Washington, of No, 2% Mtnetta lane, were married this morning by Magistrate Flammer, In the Jefferson Market Court. The marriage was the cuimination of a series of ouarrels. Boone was arrested yesterday by Policeman Gunn for threatening to shoot the woman. When arraigned he said he had bought two tickets for Nor- folk, Va., but just as the boat was about to leave its pler “his Clara” tn- sisted upon having @ row. While they “¢T want some mor ep H-O makes a breakfast don’t know just where | can find her. I expect to see her to-night. 1 will be in a better position fo talk then.” Dr. Hendricks said: “Why, of course she will give herselt up. Just a: soon a8 she hears of this she will appear before the Judge. She has not ND dad Wekhow ‘Whole case now. They have shown théir a rumor ia Long i a ema worping. ) @ Long Branch train You can’t tell how good H-O eat H-O. seme, Eat H-O and see, of an ordinary No other is prepared the same, en — Oliver Twist. luxury food. is by eating other kinds. You must tastes the same, or is the